Key Questions to Ask a Potential Drop Shipping Partner

Key Questions to Ask a Potential Drop Shipping Partner

Partnering with a drop shipper is a great way to start an online venture with minimal risk. By not having to lay out a bunch of cash to buy products wholesale, you're not risking your money. You don’t have to store any inventory, and you don’t have to worry about keeping up with shipping products out to customers in a timely manner.

But that doesn’t mean you should hand off those important elements of your business to just anyone. Working with a bad drop shipper—and they are out there—could sink your business before it ever gets off the ground.

You don’t have to go into the process of finding and negotiating with a potential drop shipping partner blind. Here are some key questions that can help you determine if they are the right fit for your business.

1. Once a customer has placed an order, how long will it take to be processed and shipped out of their facility? (Remember you can also "secret shop" them to verify this as well)
2. What methods of shipping the products are available? This is especially important if they are located overseas and are shipping internationally. Do they use services like UPS and FedEx? Can a customer overnight an order? Do they rely on the U.S. Postal Service only?
3. This is a big one: Do they have a tracking system so that you and/or your customers can see the status of each order easily? This is one the biggest things customers want to be able to do.

1. How do they deal with issues like lost shipments? You don’t want customers to get frustrated with issues you can’t control. And keep in mind that as the seller you are ultimately responsible for customer service. Will lost shipments cost you money?
2. Do the products they offer have warranties/guarantees? What happens if the customer isn’t satisfied with the product—what’s the return policy? Does the drop shipper guarantee the product? What happens if the product fails in some way?
3. Make sure the drop shipper's policies match up with your customer-service philosophy. If a customer feels that they’ve been taken advantage of you can’t point to the drop shipper and blame them, because you are the one that sold the customer the product.

It’s also a good idea to check forums, blogs, and social media for comments about the drop shipping company from other online entrepreneurs. Drop shippers who have a bad reputation or have bad business practices will quickly be exposed, often in detail, so you can avoid them.